The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Bien Public, Dijon, France, pages 1 and 10, on October 7, 1954.
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Did a "saucer" haunt the skies over Poncey-sur-l'Ignon? Did it try to land in a meadow near the asbestos factory? These are questions that are difficult to answer clearly and precisely. Because the two craft that appeared in Poncey-sur-l'Ignon within forty-eight hours both had witnesses. Many people claim to have "seen" something. What to make of it all? We leave it up to our readers to draw their own conclusions.
The first mysterious craft seen by residents of Poncey had the shape of a vertical cylinder. Let's hear from the first witness, Mrs. Gainait, wife of the former mayor.
– It happened Saturday evening, around 7:40 p.m. I had just finished milking my cows and, coming out of the stable, I saw the farmyard all lit up... I looked up at the sky and that's when I saw...
– What did you see, Madam?
– Well, sir, a flying cylinder, orange in color, surrounded by a square of pale green light.
– Was the cylinder moving?
– Yes, above the small woods, about a kilometer away... So I called my husband, my daughter Yvette, a neighbor, Mrs. Mugneret, and we all watched the cylinder move.
– For how long, approximately?
– Maybe ten minutes. And then it disappeared, at the speed of a large plane, silently, in the direction of Chanceaux.
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[Photo caption:] Mrs. Fourneret points to the traces of the "mysterious craft" (Photo B.P.)
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[Photo caption:] The witnesses from Saturday evening are certain, "We saw a cylinder" (Photo B.P.)
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And Mrs. Gainait concludes: "You know, before, I didn't believe in these craft, but today I have no choice—because I saw one!"
Obviously... But there's something even more disturbing. Two days later, on Monday, the cylinder returned to Poncey—this time transformed into a classic flying disc.
It was 7:30 p.m. A young woman, Mrs. Fourneret, née Thérèse Thieblot, 23 years old, was about to close the shutters of her bedroom in the small house she shares with her husband next to the asbestos factory. Suddenly, through the open window, just fifty meters away, she saw a disc emitting a soft orange glow, flattened at both ends—"as big as a stove," said Mrs. Fourneret—which appeared to be hovering above a plum tree in the nearby meadow.
Panic-stricken, Mrs. Fourneret ran to her neighbor's house. The two terrified women locked themselves in and waited an hour for their husbands to return.
Armed with rifles (just in case!), and equipped with flashlights, the men went out to "have a look."
At the spot where the saucer had "landed" in the meadow, they found fresh traces.
We saw these traces. What did they look like?
A rectangular area measuring 1.5 meters by 0.6 meters had been cleared of weeds and the soil leveled, as if compacted. Around the area, in a circle about ten meters wide, uprooted clumps of soil were scattered. Curiously, perennial plants like dandelions and couch grass remained rooted, which suggests that this wasn't done with any common tool. A farmer, Mr. Cazet, the mayor of Poncey, stated firmly: "These are not tool marks... It's too perfectly done," he declared.
That's where things stand today. Chief Clément of the Sainte-Seine-l'Abbaye gendarmerie visited the site. Captain Millet from the Semur division has opened an investigation. Is this a well-orchestrated hoax? If so, kudos to the clever prankster—and no hard feelings!
On that note, we should mention that in the days before the sighting, Mrs. Fourneret had been the target of "friendly jokes" from local residents. In fact, the infamous group of pranksters had planned to trick her into believing a saucer had landed... But they were too late—"the real one" had already landed in the meantime... So, what now?
Several residents of Côte-d'Or saw a spherical luminous object emitting a bright green glow, moving through the sky toward the south. This account matches reports from several people in Santenay-les-Bains, including Mr. Bernard Legros, 25, manager of the Docks Bourguignons.
On Sunday evening, October 2, around 8:45 p.m., Mr. Legros was between La Garenne and Saisy-la-Forêt when he saw a glowing ball moving slowly and silently toward him, losing altitude. Mr. Legros immediately stopped, as did several other motorists, and all watched (not without fear) for about five minutes as the luminous craft maneuvered, then suddenly disappeared in the direction of Le Creusot.
The craft, he said, was orange in color and appeared to have a kind of dome on top, glowing with a greenish-black light.
On Monday, around 7:15 p.m., Mr. Beaufort, director of the Commercial Counter in Chalon-sur-Saône, was driving on the road to Demigny when, at the edge of the woods of Lessard-le-National, he spotted in his headlights the silver fuselage of one of those infamous "cigars" resting on the embankment. He didn't have time to get out of his car before the craft took off vertically, accompanied by flame jets resembling a blowtorch. Truck drivers from Mores-Saint-Denis, who were following Mr. Beaufort, also saw the craft.
The next day, passing again by the spot where the "cigar" had landed, Mr. Beaufort noticed deep tracks on the embankment.
